For centuries throughout the world, horseback riding has captured the imagination of adventurous people. In the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the horse was a symbol of power. In medieval Europe and Japan, horses were essential for quick movement across large distances and were often used in warfare. In the American wild west, the horse was a cowboy's constant companion and a symbol of self-reliance and adventure.
While few experiences may compare with the fun and excitement an experienced rider has galloping a real horse, many of us do not have sufficient training and experience and/or ready access to live horses. Horse riding simulations have therefore always been popular. Carousels (“merry-go-rounds”) often have full sized horse models that move up and down to allow riders to feel as if they are riding real horses. Small children sit on small rocking or toy spring horses that move back and forth to simulate horse movements. Some have attempted more elaborate riding simulations using full-sized horse models or mechanical bulls that are instrumented and driven by motors and other electronic devices. Others have constructed full-sized models of the rump, back and wither portions of a horse or similar portions of other animals for use in arcade games, exercise machines, riding trainers or other simulations.
Physical size is a significant problem with such prior designs. To be realistic and useful by older children and adults, the model's dimensions generally need to approximate the size of a real animal. Of course, most of us prefer not to have a full-sized model of a large animal in our living room or den. Inflatable toy horses are known but typically have been used as swimming pool toys which do not provide a very realistic riding simulation.
It would be desirable to provide an inexpensive, convenient way to realistically simulate, in the home, riding on horseback or on other animals.
The exemplary illustrative non-limiting technology herein provides an inflatable air cushion or other type seat a person can sit on. The seat is instrumented with electronic input devices that can sense motion of the seat and/or motion of the person's body. Such input devices provide inputs to a computer graphics system that dynamically generates a responsive scene on a real time display.
One exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation uses known inputs devices such as the Wii Remote or Nunchuk manufactured by Nintendo. The seat can be provided with a pocket or other mounting mechanism for retaining the Wii Remote. Accelerometers within the Wii Remote or Nunchuk can sense motion of the seat and provide inputs to a Wii video game system. The Wii video game system can provide a realistic display that responds to the Wii remote inputs and allows the user to feel as if he or she is riding a real horse or other animal.
In an exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, the instrumented seat can provide feedback to portions of the user's body that are in contact with the seat. For example, the user's balance on the seat can be sensed and result in vibration or other haptic feedback transmitted through the seat to the user's body. In other exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations, user feedback can be provided through an interactive 3D computer graphics display that responds with tilt, pan, roll, zoom or other graphics image transformations.
In exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations, one input device can be provided to monitor the motion of the seat and another input device can be provided for the user to hold in his or her hand. In such simulations, the handheld input device can be used for example to simulate holding the reins, while the seat-coupled input device can monitor the motion or balance of the simulated horse or other animal and/or provide haptic feedback.
In other exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations, one input device can be provided to monitor the motion of the seat, another input device can be provided for the user to hold in his or her left hand, and a further input device can be provided for the user to hold in his or her right hand. In such simulations, one handheld input device can be used to simulate holding the reins, another handheld input device can be used to simulate holding a riding crop, and the seat-coupled input device can monitor the motion or balance of the simulated horse or other animal and/or provide haptic feedback. The second handheld input device can alternatively be used to simulate other actions (e.g., a raised hand for balance as in Bronco riding, a lasso, a sword or other weapon, etc.)